No messaging history between Shineka Gray and other parties – analyst
Published:Tuesday | January 9, 2024 | 12:09 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The communication forensic expert in the Shineka Gray murder trial made it clear on Monday that his analysis of the call-data information he was given in the case showed no messaging connection between Gray’s number and other parties in the case.
The witness, who was giving his third day of testimony in the St James Circuit Court, made the declaration under cross-examination from attorney Chumu Parris, the lawyer representing defendant Gregory Roberts, who is charged with murdering the 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2017.
Responding to Parris’ questions, which included seeking clarity on the crossing-over of cell-site access zones where Roberts’ call and messaging data had been recorded, the witness said that his analysis of the phone-data evidence which was supplied to him would not be able to indicate if Gray had been entirely in possession of her phone on January 29, 2017, the day she went missing.
CALL-DATA RECORDS
“From the call-data records, on January 29, 2017 after 7 p.m., are you able to say whether Ms Gray would have been in possession of that phone?” asked Parris.
“I would not be able to say. I could only say her phone made and received calls,” the witness answered.
“Were there SMS messages from Mr Roberts’ phone placed to Ms Gray’s phone?” Parris subsequently asked.
“No,” the witness answered.
“Were there SMS messages from Ms Gray to Mr Roberts?” Parris asked next.
“No,” the witness replied.
“Was there any communication from the phone attributed to (Roberts’ ex-girlfriend’s mother) to Ms Gray? Any from Ms Gray to (ex’s mother)?” Parris persisted.
“No,” said the witness.
“Was there any call from (ex) to Ms Gray? Any call from Ms Gray to (ex)? Any SMS message from (ex) to Ms Gray? Any SMS message from Ms Gray to (ex)?” Parris asked one after another.
“No,” the witness answered to each question.
It should be noted that, earlier in the trial, on January 3, the witness had testified that based on his examination of the call-data analysis, a SIM card was taken from Gray’s cellular phone and placed in a phone attributed to Roberts’ former co-defendant Mario Morrison, as well as Morrison’s SIM card being placed in Gray’s phone.
That previous revelation was briefly revisited during Monday’s cross-examination, with the witness outlining the time when Gray’s SIM card got associated with Morrison’s phone.
ANALYSIS OF CALL RECORDS
“Based on your analysis of the call records, tell me if Mr Morrison would have been in possession of Ms Gray’s phone just before 12:46 a.m. on January 30,” Parris requested of the witness.
“We have the earliest association of Ms Gray’s SIM card with Mr Morrison’s device at 12:45 a.m. on January 30,” the witness replied.
Under re-examination by the prosecution, the witness noted that not all of the names for cell-global identity [CGI] cell-site information were included in the data log because not all of them were relevant to the investigation, but that the CGI sites themselves were present in the data.
The trial continues this morning.
Since the start of Roberts’ trial on November 23, 2023, the court has at times heard disturbing testimony against the defendant, indicating that Roberts took Gray to a location in Irwin, St James where he brutally stabbed her to death on January 29, 2017, and where her body was found three days later on February 1 that year.
Gray was a grade 10 student of the Green Pond High School in St James, at the time of her death. She was last seen alive on her way home from the funeral of a schoolmate on January 29, 2017.